Paperless drywall sander

ABSTRACT

A paperless drywall sander includes a pole. A pivot is affixed to the pole. A base is affixed to the pivot. A sanding head is mounted on the base. The sanding head includes a non-paper bulk member and an abrasive material distributed across a surface of the bulk material and to a depth within the bulk material.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/947,821, filed Mar. 4, 2014.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a drywall sander and in particular, a drywall sander having a sanding member which does not contain paper.

Drywall sanders are known in the art, and generally include a pole having a long handle and a pivoting rectangular head attached at one end of the pole. The head includes clamps for securing a piece of sandpaper therein. Once the sandpaper is attached to the head utilizing the clamps, the head is used to sand the drywall to a smooth finish.

Reference is made to FIG. 3 in which a drywall sander constructed in accordance the prior art is provided with more specificity. A handle 5 terminates at a pivot 6. A support member 18 extends from pivot 6 and supports a base 7. A rubber pad 8 is affixed to base 7. Sandpaper (not shown) is affixed to rubber pad 8 to provide a sanding surface for the drywall pole sander.

The prior art uses of sandpaper has been satisfactory, however, it suffers from the disadvantage that sandpaper easily tears, has a short lifespan and the sandpaper loads up with debris quickly minimizing the abrasive effect of the sandpaper.

Accordingly, a drywall sander which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art is desired.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A drywall sander includes a sanding head having a base. A sanding head is affixed to the base, the sanding head includes a non-paper bulk infusion member and an abrasive material distributed within and on at least one surface of the material of the bulk infusion member.

In one embodiment, the abrasive material is uniformly distributed throughout the infusion bulk member. In another non-limiting embodiment, the infusion bulk material has a connecting face facing the base and being affixed thereto and a sanding surface opposed to the support face, wherein at least at the sanding surface, the abrasive material is formed in a geometric pattern.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure would be better understood by utilizing the written description with reference to the accompanying drawing figures, in which the reference numerals denote the similar structure and refer to like elements throughout in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the sanding head constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a sanding head constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a prior art drywall pole sander with a pivoting head;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a drywall pole sander constructed in accordance with another embodiment of the invention utilizing Velcro® strips to attach the bulk member to the support;

FIG. 5 is an exploded side elevation view of a drywall pole sander constructed in accordance with the present invention showing the bulk member affixed to the support member with the Velcro® strips;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a sanding head constructed in accordance with the invention taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of a sanding head having flexible straps constructed in accordance with another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the sanding head of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a sanding head and base with a flexible strap to attach to the base.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Like numbers are utilized to describe like structures. Reference is first made to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 in which a drywall pole sander, generally indicated as 100 constructed in accordance with the invention is provided. Pole sander 100 includes a pole 5 terminating at a pivot 6. Pivot 6 pivots about pole sander or may be maintained in a fixed relationship to pole 5. A base 7 is affixed to pivot 6 and supports a sanding head 12 thereon.

Sanding head 12 is affixed to base 7. In a preferred, non-limiting embodiment, sanding head 12 has a generally rectangular shaped body with parallel opposed sides defining a width and a length. In a preferred embodiment, to conform to the base 7 as known in the art, the sanding head 12 has a length greater than its width. However, this is not a requirement.

As more particularly seen in FIG. 6, sanding head 12 has a bulk member body 13 formed as a bulk material for supporting an abrasive material 14, formed as particulate, which are substantially uniformly disposed here throughout for at least several layers.

Abrasive material 14 is also disposed on at least an upper (away from base 7) surface of member body 13. Because of the substantially uniform distribution of abrasive material 14 within bulk member body 13, abrasive material 14 forms de facto layers, coplanar with base 7, within bulk member body 13. It should be noted that the abrasive material 14 may be uniformly distributed throughout the entire thickness of bulk member 13 of sanding head 12, but is not required for the invention. What is required is that unlike sandpaper, there are several layers in addition to an outer surface 15 containing abrasive material 14. Alternatively, bulk member body 13 may be formed entirely of an abrasive material, or may be textured as a sanding surface 15 to provide the abrasive properties.

The bulk material forming bulk member 13 of sanding head 12 may be formed of a non paper material such as an epoxy resin, shellac, urethane, polyurethane, urethane rubber, urethane plastic and the like, that is capable of holding an abrasive material 14 in suspension within bulk member body 13 to enable sanding by sanding head 12 when utilized as part of pole sander 100. Abrasive material 14 may be sand, diamond dust, aluminum oxide, calcite or other abrasives that are known to sand drywall while being capable of being distributed within one or more of the bulk materials of bulk member 13 described above.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 showing the sanding head 12 constructed in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment of the invention, sanding surface 15 is formed into a pattern. In this pattern, the sanding surface is formed by way of one example, squares rotated 45 degrees relative to the sides of bulk material member 13. The abrasive material 14 is within each individual square 16 providing a substantially or relatively abrasive free area 17 as compared to within the squares which may be formed as grooves. In this embodiment, the rotation of squares 16 facilitates the sanding of an inside corner where the abrasive material may cut grooves rather than provide uniform sanding.

Additionally, the abrasive free regions 17, when formed as grooves channel the resulting dust away from the abrasive square 16 during sanding, preventing the dust from building up or caking; maintaining the efficiency of sanding head 12. The thrust of the stroke of drywall sander 100 against the wall pushes the resulting drywall dust away from the pad from the grooves 17.

In one preferred but non-limiting embodiment, sander head 12 includes a sidewall 2 having a length of about 3.5 inches and a longer sidewall 3 having a length of about 9½ inches. In a preferred embodiment, the thickness 4 of sanding head 12 is about 0.25 inches. These dimensions allow sanding head 12 to be retrofitted to existing drywall pole sanders currently in widespread use. These dimensions are not required but allow the retrofitting. By way of example, one difference may be that the thickness 4 of sanding head 12 may be as high as 0.375 inches resulting in an extended usage lifespan.

Referring again to FIG. 3 prior art pole sander 100 can be retrofit for sanding head 12. In the prior art sander, rubber pad 8 is glued to aluminum base 7. Rubber pad 8 may be scraped away leaving base aluminum plate 7 exposed. If necessary, alcohol may be used to clean base plate 7 to remove any glue.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4 showing a sheet of Velcro® fastener tape 9 being affixed to base 7. As seen in FIG. 5, a mating Velcro® fastener tape 10 for mating with Velcro® fastener tape 9 is disposed on a surface 11 opposed to surface 15 of bulk member 13 to attach sanding head 12 to base 7. As a result, drywall sander 100 is ready for its designed use of sanding drywall.

Reference now made to FIGS. 7-9 in which a sanding head constructed in accordance with another embodiment in the invention is provided. In this embodiment, flexible straps are affixed to the sanding head for attachment to the pole sander base.

A sanding head 112 includes a bulk member 113. As described above, bulk member 113 may be formed entirely of an abrasive material, may be textured at a sanding surface 115, or may include bulk material 113 with layers of abrasive materials distributed there throughout as discussed above.

First and second straps of flexible material 114 are provided on opposed edges of bulk member 113. In a preferred, but non-limiting embodiment, strips 114 are made from nylon. Strips 114 may be fastened to bulk member 113 with any type of fastening structure known such as glue, other adhesives, screws, but in a preferred, non-limiting embodiment, strips 114 are embedded in bulk material 113 during the formation of bulk material 114 so as to be an integral part of sanding head 112.

Sanding pole base 7 may be provided with clamping structures 120 which may take the form of a butterfly clamp structure, spring bias clamp, or the like on the surface of base 7 which is affixed to pole 5. In this way, during use, a bottom surface 111 of sanding head 112 comes into contact with base 7 such that outer surface 115 faces away from base 7. Strips 114 are then brought about and behind base 7 where they are clamped to base 7 by respective clamps 120 holding sanding head 112 in place within base 7.

As a result of utilizing a sanding head formed of a bulk material for having an abrasive material distributed within the bulk material which wears away during use, the sanding head no longer tears. Furthermore, because as top surface 15 wears away, it is replaced by the underlying bulk material and abrasive material as described above, the longevity of the sanding head 12 increases significantly to as many as 1000 times greater than the sanding life of conventional sand paper reducing the number of times head 12 must be replaced. The bulk material may have a thickness substantially greater than the thickness of a sheet of sandpaper further producing the number of times that the sanding head 12 must be replaced.

While this invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention encompassed with the appending claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A paperless drywall sander comprising: a pole; a pivot connected to the pole; a base connected to the pivot; and a sanding head mounted on the base, the sanding head including a bulk member, and an abrasive material distributed across a surface of the bulk member and to a depth within the bulk member.
 2. The paperless drywall sander of claim 1, wherein the abrasive material is substantially uniformly distributed within the bulk material.
 3. The paperless drywall sander of claim 2, wherein the abrasive material is a particulate material.
 4. The paperless drywall sander of claim 1, wherein the sanding head has an outer surface, the outer surface being formed with at least one groove therein.
 5. The paperless drywall sander of claim 4, wherein the surface of the non-paper bulk member is formed as a pattern of squares, the at least one groove forming a boundary for a square within the pattern of squares.
 6. The paperless drywall sander of claim 1, wherein the abrasive material is disposed on at least an upper surface of the bulk member and throughout the bulk member to form layers of abrasive material within the bulk member.
 7. The paperless drywall sander of claim 1, wherein the abrasive material is at least one of diamond dust, aluminum oxide, or calcite.
 8. The paperless drywall sander of claim 1, wherein the bulk material is formed from at least one of an epoxy resin, shellac, urethane, polyurethane, urethane rubber, and urethane plastic.
 9. The paperless drywall sander of claim 1, wherein the sanding head has a sanding surface, the sanding surface being formed into a pattern.
 10. The sanding head of claim 4, in which there are substantially no abrasive material within the at least one groove.
 11. A sanding head for a drywall sander comprising: a bulk material; and an abrasive material distributed across a surface of said bulk material and to a depth within the bulk material.
 12. The paperless drywall sander of claim 11, wherein the abrasive material is substantially uniformly distributed within the bulk material.
 13. The paperless drywall sander of claim 12, wherein the abrasive material is a particulate material.
 14. The paperless drywall sander of claim 11, wherein the sanding head has an outer surface, the outer surface being formed with at least one groove therein.
 15. The paperless drywall sander of claim 14, wherein the surface of the non-paper bulk member is formed as a pattern of squares, the at least one groove forming a boundary for a square within the pattern of squares.
 16. The paperless drywall sander of claim 11, wherein the abrasive material is disposed on at least an upper surface of the bulk member and throughout the bulk member to form layers of abrasive material within the bulk member.
 17. The paperless drywall sander of claim 11, wherein the abrasive material is at least one of diamond dust, aluminum oxide, or calcite.
 18. The paperless drywall sander of claim 11, wherein the bulk material is formed from at least one of an epoxy resin, shellac, urethane, polyurethane, urethane rubber, and urethane plastic.
 19. The paperless drywall sander of claim 11, wherein the sanding head has a sanding surface, the sanding surface being formed into a pattern.
 20. The sanding head of claim 14, in which there are substantially no abrasive material within the at least one groove. 